Reenforcing element for trunks



June so, 1925. v

' N. GOLDSMITH REENEORCING ELEMENT FOR TRUNKS Filed Aug. 1921 2Sheets-Sheet 1 A TTORNEYJ.

% INVENTOI? N. GOLDSMITH REENFORCING ELEMENT FOR TRUNKS June 30, 1925.1,543,999

Filed Aug. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTOR Mn I 6 arromvsrs.

Patented June 30, 1925 PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN GOLDSMITH, 0F NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

BEENFORCING ELEMENT Fort TRUNKS.

Application filed August 30, 1921 Serial No. 496,890.

To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN GOLDSMITH, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of NewJersey, have invented new and useful Improvements in ReenforcingElements for Trunks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to trunks, and more particularly toreenforcing corner strips and shields and methods of appl ing the sameto trunks or the like.

lleretofore in the manufacture of trunks the corner edge reenforcingstrips have usually been of fiber and have been successively applied: tothe various corner edges of the trunk after which the metal cornershields have been secured in position. Thus each strip was appliedseparately and a great amount of time and labor was expended.Furthermore the body and cover portions of a trunk are frequentlyinaccurately made,

that is, the corners are not square and true,

and the reenforcing strips necessarily follow the inaccuracies of thetrunk sides and corners so that the trunk has a rough and unfinishedappearance. The strips being of fiber and the corner shields beingunconnected therewith except by nails, they do not effectively resistblows on the edges of the trunk or strains incident to drop-ping thetrunk on a corner.

The objects of the invention are to provide an improved metallicreenforcing strip for the corners and corner edges of a trunk or thelike, whereby the trunk is effectively reenforced against blows on theedges thereof and strains incident to dropping the same on a corner; toprovide an improved reenforcing strip comprising an angle strip of sheetmetal adapted to be secured to the corner edge of a trunk; to provide areenforcing element for trunks and the like comprising a corner shieldor buffer adapted to be fitted to a trihedral corner of a trunk andhaving secured thereto three angle strips each adapted tofit one of thecorner edges of the trunk meeting at said trihedral corner; said stripsbeing rigidly connected to said corner shieldat exactly right angles toeach other; to provide such a reenforcing element the angle strips ofwhich are of a length less than the length of the edge to which they arefitted, the free end of one of saidstrips being adapted to connect withthe adjacent end ofthestrip on the same edge carried by the nextadjacent corner shield, whereby the edge reenforcing strips may beapplied to the trunk simultaneously;

with the corner shields; to provide improved means at the valance endsof the corner strips for forming a joint between the cover portlon andbody portion of a trunk; to proshields to a trunk; and to obtain otherresults and advantages as may be brought out by the followingdescription.

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

in which like numerals of reference indicate p the same parts throughoutthe several views,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a trunk having reenforcing elementsconstructed in accordance with the invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a detached perspective view of one of the reenforcingelements with portions broken away;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary side elevation of two of the corner edgereenforcing strips showing the manner ofsecuring the same in a cornershield, the corner shield being shown in section;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of two of the corner strips showing themitered ends which are joined in the corner piece;

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse sectional view through one of thecorner edge strips;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary partial plan and sectional view through one ofthe joint members and the abutting ends of two reenforcing strips;

Figure 7 is a perspective view of the overlapping valance ends of thereenforcing elements at the ends of the box portion and cover portion ofthe trunk showing the same separated;

Figure 8 is a longitudinal sectional view through the said valance endsof the strips in abutting position, and

Figure 9 is an enlarged sectional view through a modified form of thereenforcing strip.

In said drawings I have shown the inventrunk or the like formed bythreesides meeting at substantially right angles, and

three metal reenforcingstrips substantially 1 reeniorcmg elementextending lengthwise or right angular in cross-section adapted to fitover the corner edges of the 'trunk'form'ed by t adja eee f sa th e i eti r ht. a e s i @Q ri s being rigidlyf secnred to said corner shieldat'eiiacfly right the rlj when the sail ire enforcing element is usedone trnnk, a box 'haying'a cover','or 'thelike, ,tyvio of said cornerstrips are each termed of length snb'stantially equal to o'oiie h'alfthelength ofthe edge'to which it is pp ed .h ls he rip srf rmed of alengthcorresponding-to the depth of the 'eo'v'sr or body of the trunk as thecase inay bel Thus, the application or two 10? said re nf rc ns lem n tadjw iorn 6f? r fls he adj c n s pr sai elements'meet to cornplete'lycover one edge Q'fth' trunk while the other strips are appliedto apgrfiofeach 'of'th other. four ed es; This construction enables the eightcorners of a rectangulanboxor tru ilrand t l r -v o ner sfi e 't be sirl ly r eiiforcedjhy th lap" lication of eightof said i-ee iforing,elements, thereby reducing the time'and labor requir d i l' he presentmet-hods hfxreenforeing trunks, ensuring a strong and rigidconstruction, and producing a trunk hav ng 11 an quar c er a a hs i h ynishe appemna, 1

In the specific embodiment of the invention shown-in the drawings, thereference chaitactrs A designate the 'reenforcing ele- Ine nts''fcognprisin the metal trihedral right angiilarjooirner,shields 1 whichareadapted to l-it a comm-or the trunk formedby the concurrence of threesides thereof, the said corner shields being tormedwith openings 2 toreceive nailsfrivets or like fastening members: 3 for-securing theshields to the drink; Three corner edge reenforcing strips rhave on eend thereof rigidly secured Within each of the corner shields, the saidstrips being right angular in cross-section and arranged exactly rightangles to each other so as to fitoverthe'corner edges of the trunkformed by two adjacent ones of three sides concurring at the corner oyerWhich the corresponding corner shield A is fitted. The stripse may besecured in any suitable, 'manner in the corner shield, but arepreferably spot elded therein and V have their ends niitered a ar-5 toabutivithin the corner shield as shown inFigures 2 and 3. Oneof thestrips 4; of each reenforcing element is ofa length substantially equalto one-half the length of tlie trunk, "another oneis, of a lengthsubstantially equal to one-half ofthe width 6f the trunk, and a'thirdstripis' of les'to each other. Fura length substantially equal to athedepth of the cover portion or the body portion of the trunk accordinglyas the reenforcing ele .ment 'lSf-2tpp11e(1 to a corner of the coverportion or the body portion of the trunk. F The. freeend-of one of thestrips of each crosswise 'ofthe trunk, has rigidly secured thereto anangular joint member 6 which the same to the trunk, While the free endof j the other of said strips is adapted to fit nnderthe joint memberot' the reenforcing strip on the same edge carried by the next adjacentreenter-sing element. The free end of the reentorcing strip whichextends depthwise of the body portion of the trunk is formed ith avalance member '8 which projects beyond the end ofthe strip and isolifsetin'wardly at 9, the said member being provided withopenings 10 toreceive rivets, nails or the like. The corresponding end of thereenforcing strip which extends 'depthwise of the cover por ion of thetrunk, is formed Witha cooperating valance member 11 which projectsbeyondthe end of the reeniorcing strip and is adapted to overlap theinwardly'ofl'set portion 9 of themember 8 when the cover of the trunk isclosed, as clearly shown in Figure 8. In applying the reenforcingelements A to a trunl; or the like, one of the elements is applied toone corner of thetrunk and secured in position by means of the nailsorrivets 3. Other nails or rivets l'2'la re then driven into the trunkthrough openings 13 in the reeniorclng strips, A second reenitorcingelement is then applied to the next ad acent corner of the trunk in asimilar manner, the joint member 6 of'one of: the reenlorcing strips ofsaid second mentioned reento'rcing element overlapping the end of theree'i'iiorcing strip on the same edge carried by the first mentionedreenforcing element. This operation is continued until a reenforcingelement is secured to each corner of the trunk, it being nnderstood thatthe properly constructed reentorcing elements are applied respectivelytothe cover portion end of one strip nnder t'he. joint memberot theadjacent strip except when menswerenfe ingi eme t' apr iied- Theliangesof the reenforcing strips "are preferably provided withlongitudinal upstanding ribs 14: which reenforce the strips againstbending, and the nail or rivet openings 13 are arranged adjacent thesaid ribs 14 so that the ribs will protect the heads of the nails orrivets against being sheared ofi' as the trunk is drawn over a floor orthe like. The corner shields l are also formed with angular ribs 15which are adapted to overlie the ribs 14 of the corner edge strips. Inorder to reenforce the edge strips 4: against blows on the anglesthereof, I may provide each of said strips with a half round rod 16which is rigidly secured, as

the reenforcing elements will impart a true and thoroughly finishedappearance to the trunk. The rigid connection of the reenforcing stripsat to the corner shields also successfully resists strains due todropping the trunk on a corner thereof, and the ends of the reenforcingstrips abutting within the corner shields and being rigidly securedthereto produce a double thickness of the material at the corner of thetrunk which greatly increases the strength of the reenforcing element.Furthermore, the application of reenforcing strips and corner shields tothe trunk is greatly facilitated by my invention.

The form of the invention shown and described is for the purpose ofillustrating the principles of the invention only, and it will beunderstood that modifications can be made in the detail construction ofthev reenforcing elements without departing from the spirit or scope ofthe invention. Therefore, I do not desire to be understood as limitingmyself except as required by the following claims when construed in thelight of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a reenforcing element for trunks andthe like, including a corner shield adapted to fit a trihedral corner ofa trunk, and three corner edge strips each permanently connected at oneend: to said corner shield in fixed and angular relation thereto and tothe other strips so that said corner shield and said edge strips may be'applied simultaneously to the corner and the three corner edges formedby three concurring sides of the trunk, respectively.

2. A reenforcing element for trunks including a corner shield havingangularly arranged extensions rigidly secured thereto and adapted to fiton the corner edges of a trunk, said extensions being of a length lessthan the length of the edges towhich they are applied and adapted toabut the ends of the extensions on the same edges of similar reenforcingelements applied to adjacent corners.

3. A reenforcing strip for a corner edge of a trunk or the like,consisting of an elongated strip of sheet metal angular in crosssectionto fit a corner edge of a trunk or the like and of substantially uniformthickness throughout its length, and a rod arranged in the angle of saidstrip extending the full length thereof and secured to both walls of thestrip, said rod having its exposed side flattened to engage a corneredge of a trunk or the like.

4. A reenforcing strip for a corner edge of a trunk or the like,consisting of an elongated strip of sheet metal having two longitudinalflanges arranged at substantially right angles to each other with theangle of meeting rounded, and a half round rod secured to said stripwith its rounded portion arranged within the rounded portion of saidangle of the strip and its flat side vexposed to engage a corner edge ofa trunk or the like.

5. As an article of manufacture, a reenforcing element for trunks andthe like, including a corner member, a reenforcing strip secured at oneend to said corner member andextending away from the same inpredetermined relation for application to a trunk, and a joint membersecured to theother end of said reenforcing strip and projecting beyondthe same to overlap the end of a similar reenforcing strip.

NATHAN GOLD SMITH.

